If you’ve been experiencing CHRONIC pain or symptoms (more than 3 months), look to Mindbody Medicine to Finally Heal.
Mind-body Medicine is a way to direct the conscious mind to influence the brain and nervous system, which in turn, affects the physical body. Mindbody techniques work to manage the control station of the brain, which then switches-on the autonomic nervous system (the ANS controls your heart rate, blood pressure etc.), the endocrine (hormonal) system and the immune system.
The scientific literature on these approaches is now abundant. Studies dating from the late 60s have shown the power of mind-body techniques to balance the over-stimulation of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (stress/fight-flight responses) which is responsible for SO many physical and emotional imbalances, diseases and conditions, while parasympathetic nervous system stimulation that promotes relaxation.
More recently, these techniques have been demonstrated to create beneficial changes in many of the body’s physiologic responses (including blood pressure, stress hormone levels, pain response and immune functioning) and to make a significant clinical difference in conditions as diverse as hypertension, HIV, cancer, chronic pain, and insomnia as well as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.Yes. No matter what your diagnosis is. No matter how long you’ve been dealing with whatever you’re dealing with. The tools, resources and knowledge will help you re-wire your response to whatever signals are showing up for you.
Do I have The Mindbody Syndrome (TMS)?
In a nutshell, YES. We all do. I consider Mindbody symptoms to be UNIVERSAL. We are all human. We all have a mind. We all have a body. We ALL experience stress. We all have life pressure, rich emotions, regrets, little traumas (and sometimes Big Traumas), and the way we process and cope with those things is often automatic and unconscious; in other words — we REPRESS. We shove down our true expressions and feelings deep into the dungeon of our consciousness and we hope and pray that the lid never pops off. Well… it often DOES pop-off in the form of chronic symptoms, whether emotional, mental or physical. Repression and fear of our own symptoms keeps our BODY in a state of perpetual fight-flight, which leads to an imbalance within our NERVOUS SYSTEM, which can lead to chronic/persistent symptoms (that traditional medicine often has NO answers for). Some of the most common MIND-BODY symptoms are:
1. Heartburn, acid reflux
2. Ulcer symptoms or stomach pains
3. Irritable bowel syndrome
4. Colitis, spastic colon
5. Tension headache
6. Migraine headache
7. Eczema
8. Anxiety symptoms and/or panic attacks
9. Depression
10. Obsessive-compulsive thought patterns
11. Eating disorders
12. Insomnia or trouble sleeping
13. Fibromyalgia
14. Back pain
15. Neck pain
16. Shoulder pain
17. Repetitive stress injury
18. Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD)
19. Temporo-mandibular joint syndrome (TMJ)
20. Chronic tendonitis
21. Carpal tunnel syndrome
22. Trigeminal neuralgia, facial pain
23. Numbness, tingling sensations
24. Fatigue or Chronic fatigue syndrome
25. Palpitations
26. Chest pain
27. Hyperventilation
28. Spastic bladder
29. Interstitial cystitis
30. Pelvic pain
31. Muscle tenderness
32. Tachycardia or low blood pressure
33. Tinnitus
34. Dizziness
The more of these symptoms/conditions you’ve met throughout your life, the more likely it is that your symptoms are largely mind-body in nature.
Additionally, if you have a history of childhood trauma, neglect, abuse, loss, or lots of current life pressure… you are also more likely to experience more mind-body symptoms (don’t worry - we’ll go over all of this in a later installment).
Keep in mind - SOME of these diagnoses/conditions can absolutely begin as very real, PHYSICAL injuries or syndromes. BUT, the human body has an amazing ability to self-heal and self-regulate.
SO, when we have a situation where we are experiencing the PERSISTENCE of CHRONIC symptoms (lasting longer than 3 months), then we can pretty well know that we’re dealing with more of a mind-body issue than a purely physical issue. This is actually a GOOD thing. It means that no matter what is happening on the physical level, that the pain signals you are feeling or the persistent symptoms you are feeling CAN BE RESOLVED! All pain is filtered through the brain and nervous system, so when we are in a state of perpetual stress, pressure, fight/flight/freeze… these diagnoses and chronic symptoms are in the PERFECT environment to thrive.
Confused? That’s ok. It can take A LOT of unlearning to get to the place where this makes real sense.
I aim to bring you more content to unpack all of this over the next weeks and months - so please subscribe to this blog to stay up to date!
For now remember this: you CAN heal. You WILL heal. You ARE already healed (it just might take a bit for your body to catch up to your brain.
🩵 Katelyn